Hannah Landon Accused of Killing 6-Year-Old Bella Fontenelle, Leaving Body In Bucket on Mother's Lawn

A 43-year-old Louisiana woman got arrested after allegedly killing her boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter and stuffing the child’s body into a large plastic bucket, which she then dropped off on the victim’s mother’s front lawn with a wagon.

According to Fox 8 Live, Hannah Landon got taken into custody last Wednesday and charged with Bella Fontenelle’s first-degree murder.

Bella’s father discovered his daughter and girlfriend were missing from his home in Harahan, about 10 miles west of New Orleans, when he awoke on Wednesday morning, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. JPSO reported that an older male child was still present and unharmed.

At around 7:30 in the morning, the father went to the Harahan Police Station and reported the two missing. Officers started looking for the missing woman and child at the father’s house on Donelon Drive about 15 minutes after they arrived.

The investigation got moved to Bella’s biological mother’s house, which is just around the corner and less than two blocks from Bella’s father’s house, at around 8:20 in the morning.

According to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, “At the Sedgefield location, officers discovered the victim’s remains inside a large plastic bucket in the front yard.” The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Sheriff Joseph Lopinto, who spoke at a press conference last Wednesday, the investigation into Bella’s death got turned over to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office’s Major Crimes Task Force.

The sheriff’s office described Landon as an Asian woman who also goes by the names “Bunnak Lim” and “Bunnak Landon,” and JPSO investigators claim that Landon got quickly identified as the case’s top suspect.

In an effort to find Landon, neighbors gave the sheriff’s office access to Ring doorbell surveillance footage, which they claim shows Landon late the night before “pulling a wagon containing a bucket down both Donelon and Sedgefield Drives.” Landon was on her way to Bella’s biological mother’s house.

Landon got seen idly strolling down the street with the wagon and bucket in tow at around 9:33 p.m. in the disturbing video, showing no signs of trying to hide the dead child, even as a white minivan drives right past her.

Following an autopsy last Wednesday afternoon, authorities concluded that Bella’s death was the result of a homicide.

The sheriff’s office states that the cause of death is getting withheld during the investigation; however, coroner Gerry Cvitanovich revealed that Bella died due to “manual strangulation along with blunt force injuries to the head.”

After an investigation and “extensive” interviews with Bella’s biological parents, authorities concluded that neither had anything to do with her death.

Detectives received word around 2:00 p.m. last Wednesday that Landon got admitted to a nearby hospital while the search for her continued. According to authorities, Landon entered the Harahan Police Department sometime after midnight on Wednesday and was “ultimately transported to the hospital for evaluation.”

Although the reason for Landon’s hospitalization was not immediately clear, Sheriff Lopinto stated that at this point in the investigation, he would withhold that information.

Landon was arrested last Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice. She got booked into the Jefferson Parish Correction Center after being released from the hospital.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office did not explain why Hannah Landon allegedly did this, but according to The New York Post, Bella’s mother, Jennifer Zeledon, and Hannah Landon have had multiple conflicts since 2021.

According to the publication, the two women got into a physical altercation during a children’s swim meet, and Bella’s father had to step in.

Bella Fontenelle’s aunt has set up a Go Fund Me page for anyone who wants to help the family during this difficult time.